Takeover Speculation In Health Insurance Sector Turns To Cigna Corp

em>Joel Elconin is the co-host of

, a daily trading idea radio show.

Cigna Corp

shares are trading sharply higher by $16.50 at $153.81 in Monday's session. The catalyst for the sharp increase in price is a Dow Jones report that Anthem Inc

may initiiate a takeover bid for the company for as much as $175. This marks the second time in the last few weeks, that consolidation in the sector may be on the horizon. O May 29, Humana Inc.

when rumors surfaced that may be acquired by either Cigna or Aetna

. It should be noted, nothing has materialized on that front, but Humana still has maintained a majority of the gains from that frenzied trading session. Cigna had been trading unchanged ($137.31) for the day, until the alleged takeover rumor hit the wires around Noon. After a pike to $145.78, the issue was halted at $145.78. Upon the resumption of trading, it spiked to the high for session ($164). which was also a new all time high before retreating to its current level. The current high is still well shy of the propsed takeover price reported by Dow Jones of $175. The rumor has caught the attention of investors as the rally is takling place on much heavier than average volume. So far, 6.6M shares have changed hands compared with 20 day average volume of 2.1M shares.